If you care for a loved one who is living with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) you may wonder exactly what they are seeing. The above picture shows what a person with normal vision versus 10 degrees of vision sees. The amount of peripheral vision loss is astonishing. To learn more about RP see the ‘Eyes for Vision’ tab above or click here.

I’m a very lucky woman. I have four sources to make sure I wake up each morning on time. Some of these sources are trustworthy and some not so much. Some are great and others I have to just deal with. You may be wondering what those four sources are. My number one source is my Sonic Boom Travel Alarm Clock. It’s a wonderful little device that clips onto the underside of my pillow and vibrates just enough to wake me up. I’m not always crazy about it but I think it’s the fact that getting up at 6am every morning might have something to do with that. My second source is much better. My husband wakes me up just before he leaves for work. My third source is a little more fun and playful. When my husband is running a bit behind he lets the dogs jump on the bed. One of them likes to take a nose dive into my face. My last source is my children. During the week, if my husband is traveling, I have them use their alarm clocks as backup if I don’t wake up, which is rare but I like to have the backup just in case.

I have used other devices in the past, such as an alarm clock that hooked up to my lamp on my nightstand. When the alarm went off the light flashed and woke me up. The problem with this is that since I’ve developed Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) I don’t always see the light, which then becomes unreliable. I purchased the Sonic Boom Travel Alarm Clock mostly because I know the vibration would wake me up but also because I am cheap. I didn’t want to purchase a separate alarm clock for travel and at home.

In the future when my children are no longer living at home I plan to purchase an alarm clock that includes fire alarm and telephone. I imagine if I were living alone now I would already have this as I would want the security it would come with.

No matter what you use, whether it’s a device or a loving husband, just make sure you are comfortable with all of its capabilities. You want to be able to sleep knowing you’ll wake up on time and have the security of knowing you’ll be made aware of other important things going on around you.

Do you know how many deaf people there are in the United States? What about blind people?

After doing research on these numbers I am absolutely amazed at the sheer volume of people with these disabilities.

Keeping in mind that there are 315,606,151 people in the USA, look at these statistics and be prepared to be mind-boggled.

A brief summary of estimates for the size of the Deaf Population in the USA in 2005 based on available Federal Data and Published Research:

About 2 to 4 of every 1,000 people in the United States are “functionally deaf.” 631,212-1,262,424

However, if people with a severe hearing impairment are included with those who are deaf, then the number is 4 to 10 times higher. That is, anywhere from 9 to 22 out of every 1,000 people have a severe hearing impairment or are deaf. 2,840,454-6,943,332

Finally, if everyone who has any kind of “trouble” with their hearing is included then anywhere from 37 to 140 out of every 1,000 people in the United States have some kind of hearing loss. 11,677,422-44,184,840

A summary of estimates for the size of the Blind Population in the USA in 2007, according to the National Federation of the Blind:

25,200,000 blind adults

59, 355 blind children

Of the number of blind people in the United States 1,300,000 are considered legally blind

Food for thought: According to The American Association of the Deaf-Blind there are 42,000-700,000 Deaf-Blind people in the United States.

These numbers are staggering. What I find completely unbelievable is the fact that you don’t run into many people with these disabilities on a daily basis but they are out there.

Vitamins & Supplements

Special Note

Any recommendations, advice, suggestions, or promotions should be discussed with your doctor prior to the start of any treatment or use of devices. I am not a doctor; just another individual who is living with hearing and eye diseases. It is my intention to share any knowledge I have gleaned from my experiences and what may be right for me may not necessarily be right for you.